Nathan opened his mouth but shut it quickly. She was right, of course. He was being a jerk. But still, he couldn’t help it. It was driving him and his wolf crazy, all those men looking at her, knowing what they were thinking. Because he was thinking the same thing.
He huffed out a breath. “I have some towels in the trunk.” He turned away. “You should dry off and we can go—” He stopped when he felt a hand on his bicep. Slowly, he looked back at her.
Violet was staring at him, the pupils of her eyes dilated. As her pink lips parted and her nostrils flared, he smelled the unmistakable scent of golden honey, fur, and arousal.
“Vi—”
She was definitely much stronger than she looked as he nearly tumbled into her when she pulled him close. He put his hands on the hood of his car, trapping her. Violet’s damp soft skin and curves felt amazing against him. God, this was so wrong.
“Nathan,” she whispered in that sultry voice of hers. And he lost it.
He covered her mouth with his hungrily, and the moment their lips touched it was like fireworks exploded around him. She moaned, pushing her body up against him. Goddamn, she was as sweet as she smelled, and he could scent how wet she was which made his cock stand at attention. Her arms wound around his neck and pulled him closer, her mouth eagerly moving against his.
He pushed her down, laying on top of her as she splayed out on the hood of his car and planted her heels on the front bumper. She spread her legs, accommodating him between her thighs, brushing up against him and creating a sweet friction that would have had him creaming his pants if he’d been some inexperienced teenager.
He dipped his tongue between her lips, tasting more of her and never getting enough. His mouth wanted her, his hands and his cock wanted her. Fingers moved up her ribcage, pulling the scrap of Lycra over one tit so he could tease her nipple. She moaned into his mouth, which only made him want to pleasure her more just to hear his name in her sexy voice.
Moving away from her lips, he bent his head down to her luscious breasts. Perfect; not too big and not too small with light pink nipples. He took one into his mouth, and she cried his name and dug her fingers into his hair.
Her scent was driving him crazy, and he wanted more of it. He moved his hand down, over her flat stomach and lower still, waiting for her protests. When he heard none, he delved under her bikini bottom. Christ, she was soaking wet. Her pussy lips were slick with her juices, and it was easy to slip a finger inside her.
She bucked her hips up, meeting his finger eagerly. When he drew her nipple harder into his mouth, her body shuddered and he heard her let out a muffled moan. Her honey scent exploded around him, and it was like everything else disappeared and his entire world only consisted of Violet.
The rise and fall of her chest slowed down, and he looked up at her. Violet’s eyes were closed, but her plump lips were parted. He withdrew his hand from her bottoms and put it up to his mouth, licking it clean. Fuck, she was delicious, and he wanted to have more of her. But that could wait. He had to have her now.
Nathan moved above her, covering her body with his. She looked up at him and blinked, her pupils still blown out with desire. He lowered his head again and she kissed him back eagerly, her hands moving down to his shorts to pull them low over his hips.
“Wow. Classy you two. Just classy,” came Kate’s droll voice, followed by a short gasp.
Nathan cursed and rolled off the car, taking Violet with him. They got to their feet, and he pulled up his shorts as Violet straightened herself out. “What the fuck, Kate? What are you guys doing here?”
“Excuse me,” she said. “This is a family event. And,” she pointed to Sybil, who was standing next to her with her hands over her eyes, "you’ve scarred poor Sybil for life.”
“Shut up, Kate!” Sybil put her hands down. “I’m sorry! We saw you take her away, and I thought—”
“You thought what?” Nathan asked.
“You were angry, and then you dragged her off like a caveman!” Sybil exclaimed. “What were we supposed to think?”
“I think Violet was enjoying herself in the cave just fine,” Kate said with a raised brow.
Nathan sent his sister a death glare. “Just get out, will you?”
“All right, all right. But let me remind you again this is a family affair, and there are shifter kids with sensitive hearing everywhere. Matthew and Jason’ll have your head if they even hear of anything inappropriate,” Sybil warned.
“So go get a room you horn dogs!” Kate added. With a wave of her hand, she turned and disappeared back into the woods, taking Sybil with her.
“I’m sorry,” Violet began. “I—”
“You’re sorry?” he asked. “Sorry?”
She bit her lip. “I was the one who … who …”
“Kissed me?” he said with a smirk.
That cold mask slipped over her face. “Yes. So all of this was my fault.”
“It’s no one’s fault.”
She picked up the discarded towel and wrapped it around herself. “Look, we both agreed we don’t want to be mates. And that’s fine.”
“Just wait a minute! I never said that,” he protested. “Violet—”
“Really, Nathan.” She sighed. “Don’t think just because we … did what we did that you have to spare my feelings. I’m not some inexperienced virgin or one of your conquests that you have to give the gentle let-down to the next morning. I happen to be a grown woman.”
She stood there like nothing happened between them. Like it wasn’t just moments ago he was kissing her and touching her before she came apart in his arms. Cold-hearted and calculated. He swallowed the lump in his throat. “Fine. I’ll see you on Monday.”
“Nathan? Are you angry at—”
“I said it’s fine.”
He opened the door to his Mustang, and grabbed the keys from the hidden compartment under the seat. Slipping the key into the ignition, he turned the engine and put the gear in reverse, gunning it out of there and leaving Violet standing in the clearing by herself. He knew it was immature, but he didn’t know what else to do. His wolf was howling in anger and pain, and he didn’t want to feel that anymore.
Chapter Six
Violet watched as the car backed up and disappeared down the winding wooded path. When she thought she was alone, she finally allowed her knees to buckle.
“No,” she said aloud, holding onto the nearest thing she could grab. No, she couldn’t give into Nathan.
But she already did. No, that was wrong. She didn’t give into Nathan; she was the one who pulled him into that kiss. And let him push her back onto the hood of his car. And spread her legs and let him touch her until she—
Mine, her tiger moaned in an unhappy voice.
“We have to stay focused. Remember why we can't stay here.”
Violet pulled the towel closer around her and decided to make her way back to the picnic. Oh dear, it had been embarrassing, getting caught like that by Kate and Sybil. And of course, probably everyone saw Nathan carrying her away. That cad.
But, as she walked through the thick thicket of trees, she couldn’t help but remember the feel of his lips on hers and his tongue on her nipples. The way his fingers touched her and made her orgasm …
And then he left, angry at her. But why was he mad? An unfamiliar, uncomfortable feeling crept into her chest.
Mine!
“Shut up, you horny kitty! This wouldn’t have happened if you could control yourself! You should—” She gasped. That’s it.
As a scientist, Violet was taught to find solutions to problems. And her professors always said that sometimes unconventional methods were necessary. She may have just found a way to solve her problem, both with her tiger and Nathan.
Come Monday morning, Violet had fully convinced herself that she had found the solution. Now, all she had to do was convince Nathan it would be the right thing to do.
She came to work prepared with what she was going to say. He wasn’t
in their shared office, so she went ahead and finished her tasks, gathering samples and checking on potential future veins to mine. By the time she returned to the trailer, Nathan was sitting at his desk, his face drawn into a frown as he stared at his computer screen. When he saw her, his scowl deepened and the room seemed to grow colder. It only convinced her she was doing the right thing.
“Oh good, you’re here.” She dropped the bag of samples on her desk and then walked to his side of the office.
He let out a grunt and looked back at his screen.
“Nathan,” she began. No reaction from him.
“Nathan,” she repeated. He continued to ignore her. She let out a sigh and walked closer to him, walking around his desk so she could stand over him. “Are you just going to ignore me?”
He remained still for a few seconds then looked up at her, his eyes glinting like hard emeralds. “What do you want?”
“Look, I’m sorry about what happened on Saturday.”
“You’ve already said you’re sorry.”
But you haven’t said you forgive me. That thought came out of nowhere. She brushed it aside. “Right. And I mean it. But, I think it’s best if we clear the air. I can’t keep working in an environment where we’re both angry or distracted. So, I’ve come up with a solution.”
His expression changed from indifference to curiosity. “You have, have you?”
“Yes.” She took a deep breath. “The sexual attraction between us is obvious. Perhaps it’s a function of our biologies as shifters. Our animals obviously think we’d be highly compatible partners.”
“Uh …” He looked confused now.
Violet bit her lip. She tended to go on different tangents, so she supposed the more direct approach would work better. “I propose we consummate our relationship in order to satisfy our animal urges and perhaps create a more genial and even productive working environment.”
“Excuse me?”
Oh dear, did this man really possess a degree? Did he not understand the words she was saying? Should she make them simpler? “What I’m trying to say is we should have sexual intercourse to relieve the tension between us.” There, she said it. It was the perfect solution to their problem. He obviously wanted her, and she thought his performance the other day was more than adequate. Okay, a lot adequate. Much more adequate than anyone she’d ever been with before.
His eyes seemed to glass over but when they cleared, she saw a flash of … something in there. He muttered a curse and stood up. “I thought that’s what you meant.” He grabbed her shoulders and flipped their positions, so she was trapped between him and his desk.
“So you agree?” she asked.
“To have sex with you?”
She shivered involuntarily when he touched her cheek with a finger. “Yes.” He leaned in close. Oh, was he going to kiss her now? “I’m free tonight, if your schedule is open.”
“I’ll have to check with my secretary,” he bit out. “So, you want to share your hot little body with me—”
“We would be ‘sharing’ each other,” she corrected. And oh … he was so close she could feel the warmth of his body against her. She wanted to feel the hard muscles of his chest under hand palms again.
“And then after?”
She blinked. After? Did he mean he wanted more than one night? “I think once should be enough, don’t you agree? What more could you possibly want? Besides, I won't be staying in this little town forever.” Blackstone was quaint, but she was needed elsewhere.
The tension in the air broke.
“No thanks,” he said, shoving away from her. “I don’t want anything from you.”
Violet felt like she was doused with a bucket of ice water.
A ringing sound from the desk made Violet jump away. Nathan grabbed the receiver forcefully and answered the line. He said a few brief words and put it down. “Well, I gotta go. See ya around.”
“Oh.” That cold feeling seeped into her bones, into her very core. He was angry at her. Again.
She put her up hands in frustration. “Men,” she muttered as she sat back at her desk.
This is why she didn’t have long-term relationships. Her parents always said sex was natural and encouraged her to explore her sexuality. Many of her previous partners were only happy to be in a casual relationship with her; she usually picked men who had their own goals and were simply too busy to be tied down like her. She thought Nathan would be the same, but clearly she read him wrong.
Mine, the tiger whined.
A flash of memory from Saturday surfaced in her brain. Did he fake that? But then again, she kissed him. Perhaps he didn’t want her to be embarrassed, so he kept going with the charade.
“Ugh.” No, this was it. Done and over. She would just have to get through the next few weeks and hope her funding would come through soon and she could leave this place.
She spent the rest of the day keeping herself busy. It was a good thing she had learned to compartmentalize her emotions, locking them away so she could perform her duties. Even thought her heart wasn’t in it, she still had a job to do and she couldn’t disappoint Dr. Philipps by slacking off just because she was feeling miffed. Nathan never did come back to the office, which suited her just fine. However, she was surprised by the person who walked into the trailer right before she was going to clock out.
“Ben,” she greeted the bear shifter as stood in the doorway.
“Violet. May I come in?”
“Of course. I’m actually on my way out, though. But I can wait.”
Ben sat down on the chair in front of her desk. “I won’t keep you. I just need a couple of minutes.”
“Was my work for the day not satisfactory?” she asked, her brows drawing together. “I know it took me a while to collect those samples, but I wanted to make sure I did them right and—”
He put a hand up. “Oh no, not at all. You’re doing a fine job. It’s not that. Er,” he rubbed the back of his head. “It’s about Nathan.”
“What about Nathan?”
“Well … I was wondering, uh …” He shifted uncomfortably. “He seemed really … upset today. He just left without saying goodbye.”
“Upset?” He barely showed any emotion when he left. He was downright cold.
“Yeah. I was wondering if you said something to upset him. Not that I blame you or anything. Oh shit.” He stood up. “Sorry, this is probably a personal matter. Between you two. I was concerned as a friend, but maybe I shouldn’t be asking you this.”
Irritation pricked at her. “Why would he be upset? I offered him sexual intercourse, and he was the one who turned me down.”
Ben’s jaw dropped. “Right. This really is inappropriate, so I’ll be going now.”
“Wait!” Perhaps Ben could help shed some light on this mystery. “Ben, wait. I’d like to talk to you. As Nathan’s friend and not my boss.”
“Oh. Uhm, I’m not really comfortable—”
“How long have you known him?”
“Er, pretty much since we were kids.”
“So you know him well?”
He scratched his chin. “I guess you could say that.”
“Last Saturday we almost had intercourse in his car. I mean, not in his car, but on his car.”
“Violet—”
“We were interrupted, which is why I had to qualify the event as ‘almost.’ But then I realized we were both attracted to each other, unattached, and obviously sexually compatible. It made sense.”
“As your boss, I don’t think you should be saying the s-word around me.”
Violet continued. “So, when I offered him a no-strings attached sex—, uh, arrangement, he turned me down.”
“Uhm, don’t you have female friends you can talk to about this?” Ben asked.
She stood up and slammed her palms on the table. “Please, Ben, I’m trying to figure him out. What did I say that upset him?”
Ben sighed and leaned back in his chair. “You want to know the ho
nest truth, Violet?”
She sat back down. “Please enlighten me.”
“I’ve known Nathan since we were kids, though I was a grade ahead in school. A year after I went to Colorado State to study mining engineering, he followed me to complete the same degree. Double major, along with advanced math. Most people think he’s some dumb jock because he’s kind of a party animal and has a reputation with the ladies. But he did well in school, even graduated summa cum laude.”
“I never would have guessed.”
“Well, yeah, people tend to underestimate him a lot. He likes to put on a show, see? But I think, well … he’s much more sensitive than that.”
“Oh.” A feeling of dread crept into her.
“Maybe, just maybe, when you offered se—that to him, he might have been insulted.”
It all clicked into place. Violet cursed her bluntness. Not everything was about science and logic. She kept forgetting people weren’t like machines or experiments. While she thought she was being logical and smart about the whole thing, she had inadvertently been cold and clinical. She basically treated him like a piece of meat without any regard for his feelings whatsoever.
“Huh.” She made up her mind. “I need to speak with Nathan. And to apologize. For real this time. Where might I find him after hours? Do you have his address?”
“Uh, well. I imagine he’d be at The Den. It’s a local bar here.”
“Right. I could look it up.”
“I’m actually headed there myself later in the evening,” Ben said. “Penny’s a waitress there and her shift starts at seven. But we’re meeting for dinner. You’re welcome to join us.”
“Oh, I couldn’t intrude.” She supposed a bar would be more of a neutral territory and better than showing up at his house unannounced. “If you give me the address, I could show up when he’s there.”
“I can’t guarantee he’ll be there.”
“It’s fine.” She had to see him, and she wasn’t sure she could wait until tomorrow. If Nathan could find ways to avoid her at work, she might never see him again. “I’ll take my chances.”
The Blackstone Wolf Page 5
